In the Process of Something Great...

My most sincere apology to all that follow our blog.

 Forgive us for our lack of posting, it's been difficult. To be perfectly honest, we're just not sure what to post.  We are allowed to say some things, but not allowed to say others, so we have been just keeping it all under-wraps to spare us from confusion and a potentially hefty fine.

You need not fear, however, Road to the Shire is still going strong. We have come a long way since our humble beginnings, that much I can say, but you probably already knew that.

We successfully made it back from the Shire and are now working on a documentary and...other things. Other things that fans of Road to the Shire and Lord of the Rings will, I think, really like.

So stay tuned, again, sorry for that lack of things to post. Just thought I would pop in and say, never fear, we haven't been wasting your time we are just working on stuff we can't yet reveal.

Making Progress

Here is a picture we just received from the Hobbits with Sir Richard Taylor the creator and head of Weta Workshops and also, from what I have read on him, a close friend to Peter Jackson! The large check they are holding is the one we won on the television show, Dining with the Dean that we gave to the New Zealand  Red Cross Earthquake Relief.

Back on the Home Front

Though I know you would all much rather here from the Hobbits back in New Zealand, I thought I would take a minute to go over things on the home front. Back in Utah things have been moving along quite nicely. We are on our last day of the kickstarter with 2,761 dollars in the account. All our efforts today will be concentrated on raising that last 1,239. Cross your fingers, because without that money we won't have much funding for our doc.

 I've talked with the boys here and there, but their cell phone costs money and they are getting only spotty internet so they have been able to get a hold of me, tweet and blog only so often. But from what I know, they have meet a number of people who could help them to meet Peter Jackson! Again, cross your fingers. I also know, or I believe, that this week the locals of New Zealand will be holding an event with them as the main attraction. Pretty awesome, right?

Anyway, along with raising funds, we have also been fleshing out the script some more for the doc, which has been a lot more effort that I realized. We have done so many things in the space of the last few months that its hard to organize it all. Also we have been on the search for a composer for the doc score and have been getting t-shirts printed! There was a delay in the printing or else I would have picked them up already, but they should be done soon, which is exciting.

Anyway, that's it for now. Keep checking the blog for more updates. Sorry it hasn't quite been an everyday thing. We have been trying.

Megan Kenley
Account Manager

Time

This thing all things devours:
Birds, bests, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

We've been biding our time here in middle earth as we've been waiting for our baggage, connections, or flights to come of it.  Time has now become one of our most pressing matters.  It's amazing how fast time goes when you are in need of it, and how slowly it goes when you don't.

But today is the time to test our luck and the strength of our connections.  We got into Wellington, or Welly as the locals call it, on Friday evening so we have spent the last 2 days scouring the city for anyone and everyone that works on the set in some way or other.  We aren't really sure if we'll get on or not, but we sure are hustling at the possibility of it.

The New Girl

I'm the new girl. Not Zooey Deschanel. My name is Heidi Haglund. I just joined the project a few weeks ago and I'll be honest, the only thing I know about Lord of the Rings is the small, creepy guy who says, "fresh meats."  My friend, Kelsie Moore, is the director of the documentary about this whole project, but she can't fly out until later.  As the recipient of flight benefits, I offered to join the hobbits and film them here in New Zealand. 
Not only am I completely uneducated on all things JRR Tolken, but I also didn't know these hobbit guys very well.  As all road trips go, we've become very close in the past few days. Things I've learned:
John D (the D stands for Danger..sometimes) - afraid of bees, loves talking to strangers, has the best laugh, and is from some place called "The OV."
Jonathan Wright - Georgia peach, loves all types of berries, doesn't give up easily, and is a graduate student...cool. 
Mitchell Stevens - gentleman (well, they all are), stylish, not single, and is obsessed with New Zealand. 

Overall, I've been super impressed with these guys and how genuinely nice they are to everyone they meet. The time we've spent in Christchurch has been so great. We were hosted by our professor and a native new Zealander who fed us and gave us an excellent tour of Christchurch, including the neighborhoods damaged by the earthquakes in 2010.  I wasn't part of the project when they won "Dining with the Dean" and we're granted $2,000 to donate to their charity of choice - the New Zealand Earthquake Appeal - but it was so amazing to be able to give money to the people of Christchurch after seeing their torn up homes.  

Loving this trip, but looking forward to driving to Wellington and getting on set with Peter Jackson! 

Xoxo,
Heidi

PS Having your luggage lost on a trip to New Zealand means you get to kill time by hiking through caves and rivers and climbing the hills of Narnia. 

Aragorn Van

A picture of our sweet ride was in high demand, so here it is!...I know there is a lot of people in front of it, but still. We met up with the BYU Study abroad group that was already here in New Zealand. Cool people. They totally loved what we were doing.

Just want to apologize for  not blogging as much as we promised. When trying to seek out the Director of all Directors and make sure our plans for being extras are secure, we sort of forget to write. We have been visiting locals and other people trying to rally the fans of New Zealand to help us. Hopefully Peter won't be able to say no with a good portion of New Zealand on our side.

Just want to remind everyone though that it will be easier for us to post new pictures on twitter and facebook, so if you're not already following us there, you should so you can support us from a far.

That's it for now, I'll go into more detail here soon, promise. I know everyone back in the US is eager to here of our progress.

Your in the fellowship,
The Hobbits

Homeward Bound

Without Shadow, Spike, or Sassy.

Today we landed in New Zealand: One small step for us, but one giant leap for Hobbit kind!  Not even losing our luggage and passports could dampen our spirits.  We explored the surroundings of Christchurch and made some new friends including the Girl's England Cricket Team and some study abroad students :)   (thanks for the ride James)

Tomorrow we pick up our ride and make it even closer to the Shire.  Short post cause we're tired, hope you understand.  Furry feet and much love.